


The Late Michael Warren

by petersnotkingyet



Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: Everyone Needs A Hug, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Johnny misses Mike, Mike likes musicals, No Actual Character Death, everyone misses Mike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 18:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1828371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petersnotkingyet/pseuds/petersnotkingyet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the first several months of his stay at Graceland, Wayne Zalenski thought Mike was dead.</p><p>Will also be posted to my tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Late Michael Warren

Wayne found it highly unusual that within his first week, each of the other members of the house had come to him with a similar message: if he found someone else’s belongings in his room, it had belonged to someone name Mike, and Wayne was to bring it to them immediately. Of course, having five different people want him to bring whatever it was to them, not mention it to anyone, and not ask questions made him a little confused on what to actually do, but Wayne did his best to just forget about it. The only thing he ever found was a small stack of CDs. After a few moments of debate, the Broadway soundtracks, oldies, classic rock, and Southern Gothic albums wound up poked between Wayne’s bed frame and the wall, and Wayne never spoke of it to any of his housemates.

The next time Wayne heard any mention of Mike Warren, Johnny was so drunk he didn’t even remember bringing it up. The FBI agent had a rough day, and he was leaning heavily on Jakes as they walked back to Graceland from the bar.

“Jakes-y?” Johnny drawled as he stumbled over some kid’s sandcastle. For the sake of any attractive women on the sidewalks, they had decided it would be best to get Johnny back to the house via the beach, where there were fewer people at this time of day.

“Yes, Johnny?” Jakes responded indulgently. When Wayne first arrived at Graceland, the Customs agent had been territorial and detached, but recently he’d begun to shed those personality traits.

“I-I miss the kid,” Johnny stuttered. “I really, really miss Levi.”

“Who’s Levi?” Wayne whispered to Charlie as Jakes half-heartedly attempted to console Johnny.

“The kid who’s room you’re in now,” she murmured in response. Paige was looking out at the ocean, pretending not to hear their conversation, and Wayne saw Briggs wrap an arm around her shoulders out of the corner of his eye.  She looked a little faraway, and Briggs's eyes were sad

“I thought his name was Mike.”

“He got nicknamed Levi after his first reverse,” Charlie said, a sad smile flickering briefly onto her face. “Maybe someone will tell you the story someday.” She paused thoughtfully, watching Johnny as he steadily grew more emotional. “It’s a good story.”

“We don’t even need Mikey!” Johnny said suddenly, attracting the attention of the beach’s few nighttime visitors. “We’ve got Wayne! He’s like the new Mike. The better Mike!”

Briggs and Jakes quickly shushed the younger agent and began dragging him up the numerous stairs of the house. When he glanced over, Wayne could see Paige turning away, biting down on her lip. Graceland’s newest resident wanted to ask what the hell happened to Mike Warren, but the others already looked closed off on the subject, and Wayne decided he could live another day without knowing.

The following day, Wayne found Charlie staring at the chore wheel. He opened his mouth to jokingly ask if she got bathroom duty when he noticed what she was looking at. Wayne’s spot as NEW MIKE on the wheel had been changed to BETTER MIKE.

The next bit of information on Mike came with Wayne’s first experience with the zombie, just after the stakeout that earned him the nickname “Bates.” Wayne hoped it wouldn’t stick, but if Johnny is anything to go by, then it’d be best if he got used to it.

“We haven’t had zombies since Mikey saw Paul shoot those two Russians,” Paige reminisced after a couple rounds.

“Why exactly did Briggs kill two Russians?” Bates asked, paying extra attention. In his time at Graceland, this was the first time Paige had ever brought up the agent whose room Wayne took.

“One Russian,” the older agent clarified. “I shot two, but only one died.”

“It’s a long story,” Charlie said, refilling everyone’s shot glass. “Mikey, the poor kid, was undercover as the brother-in-law of a guy working for the Russians. They had the guy’s family and wanted Mike to kill a DEA agent—Donny, he’d just moved out of the house—to get them back.”

“So what did he do?” Bates asked.

“He kept us clued in on his location, went into the house, nearly got shot by Donny, and pretended to kill him,” Charlie continued.

“All that and more on his first day in the field,” Paige added, “ever.”

“Damn,” Bates drawled admiringly.

Not long after, Bates and the others clamored upstairs to their rooms. Stripping down to his boxers, Bates haphazardly flung himself face first into his mattress. The frame rocked backwards slightly, and a snapping noise resonated through the quiet room. After a few seconds, the agent recalled the CDs he had stuffed between the frame and the wall, cringing. Even if no one else knew about them and they were just CDs, it still felt wrong to break the belongings of a dead kid.  He briefly considered leaving them and hoping he'd forget by morning, but the idea made him feel a little sick to his stomach. Using his cell phone as light, Bates fumbled around until his half-drunk hands managed to close around the stack of cased. Of the six, three cases had cracked, and Bates opened the case to see if the discs themselves had been damaged.

The soundtrack of Next to Normal had a small scratch, but the Born in the USA album and the RENT soundtrack were fine. Out of curiosity, Bates examined the other three, but West Side Story, Elvis Presley, and Fleetwood Mac didn’t bring on an epiphany that would explain the mystery surrounding FBI Special Agent Michael Warren. Finally, Bates tucked the CDs into the back of his underwear drawer and crawled back into bed.

Another few months went by before Mike was mentioned again. This time, Wayne’s housemates were actually sober.

“Bates, you know who Mikey is, right?” Paul asked as Wayne entered the kitchen.

“Mikey, also known as Mike Warren, also known as Levi, also known as Mike the Marine, also known as the kid,” Charlie added from the table, running her fingertips over the rim of the glass she was drinking from.  Her tone was affectionate, like Mike was her favorite sibling, or just a dead kid she couldn't bear to think of negatively.

“Yeah, he’s the, uh…” Bates stalled, trying to find a way to phrase his thoughts, “the dead kid whose room I got.”

Charlie had just taken a sip of her water, and she nearly spewed as soon as Bates spoke. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth as she hacked, and Briggs moved to pat her on the back. “Who the hell told you Mike was dead?” he asked once Charlie had caught her breath.

“Nobody,” Bates trailed, face drawn in confusion. “It’s just… you guys only talk about him when you’re drunk, and then you get all emotional and weird. Johnny was practically crying that night coming home from the bar, when he changed my name to ‘better Mike’ on the chore wheel. Literally every single one of you wanted me to bring you any of his stuff I found, and Charlie looked like someone stabbed her when she saw ‘better Mike’ on the wheel. And I’m pretty sure you all have a picture of him hidden somewhere.”

“Levi is alive and well in Washington D.C.,” Briggs stated. “He transferred a couple weeks before you moved it. It was… messy, but the kid’s still alive.”

“Oh.”

“I was just going to tell you that he’s coming in for a couple of days to help me out with a case.” Briggs appeared to be halfway between confusion and hysterical laughter, and Charlie still hadn’t moved to mop up the water that had spilled when she choked. “I can’t believe you thought he was dead.”

“He thought who was dead?” Jakes asked as he entered the kitchen, going towards the fridge.

“Mikey,” Charlie said. Bates felt his ears get hot. “Apparently us all asking for his belongings and discussing him in drunken, emotional fits tends to give off the impression.”

“Johnny’s going to get a kick out of this,” Jakes said, shaking his head, once he had his fill of laughing.

“Yeah, the guy who has a picture of an alive twenty-something year old in his glove compartment is going to make fun of me,” Bates defended. Dale raised an eyebrow.

“Would it be less weird if he was dead?”

“By the way,” Briggs broke in, “Mike wanted to know if you found any of his CDs. He said he was missing a few when he got to DC.”

“No,” Wayne said seriously. “I certainly did not find them, hide them because I didn’t know who to give them to, forget about them, and accidentally squish them after zombies.” Charlie snorted, and Jakes rolled his eyes. “So long as he’s not real particular about the status of the cases, I think I can find them for him though.”


End file.
